New batch of Ollas

by runningwaterpottery3533

I’ve started making a new batch of Ollas to fill the orders that I took at the garden show on Sunday afternoon. These are the 1/2 gallon size. I’m using a terra cotta for these and working to get the capacity as close to 1/2 gallon as possible.( I think it will be more than a 1/2 gallon) Clay shrinks when it dries. This is because the water evaporates and the clay particles move closer together. It will shrink one more time in the firing because the chemical reactions taking place under the influence of intense heat induce a certain degree of molecular density. If I get it too hot and too dense, it becomes vitreous and what we want from an olla is for it to be porous. In the post below you see me reclaiming clay by adding water. In theory, if you make all of your pots the same size, the shrinkage is the same. When reclaiming clay, it’s a challenge to get the water content of every lump of clay exactly the same so every olla is going to be different. That’s one of the beautiful things about hand made objects, they bear the mark of their maker!